Copyrights in Nepal

The Copyright Act 2059 (2002) defines work as any work presented originally and intellectually in the field of literature, art and science and in any other field, and further extends the term to also include the following works:

(1) Book, pamphlet, article, thesis,
(2) Drama, dramatic-music, dumb show and a work prepared to perform in such manner,
(3) Musical notation with or without words,
(4) Audio visual works,
(5) Architectural design,
(6) Fine Arts, painting, work of sculpture, work of woodcarving, lithography, and other work relating to architecture,
(7) Photographic work,
(8) Work of applied art,
(9) Illustration, map, plan, three-dimensional work relating to geography, and scientific article and work,
(10) Computer program.

Under the copyright laws of Nepal, copyright protection is not available to any thought, religion, news, method of operation, concept, principle, court judgment, administrative decision, folksong, folktale, proverb and general data despite the fact that such matters are expressed or explained or interpreted or included in any work

a. Under the Copyright laws of Nepal, the economic and moral rights available to the author throughout the life of the author and in the case of his/her death until fifty years computed from the year of his death.
b. In case of Joint Authorship, the economic and moral rights is for the lifetime of the authors and fifty years computed from the year of death of the last surviving author.
c. In cases where a joint work is prepared at the initiation or direction of any person or organization or on payment of remuneration by any person or organization, the protection is until fifty years from the date of first publication of such work or the date on which the work is made public, whichever is earlier.
d. In case of the work published anonymously or with pseudonym name, the protection is granted for a period of fifty years from the date of first publication of such work or the date on which the work is made public, whichever is earlier. However, in case the name of the author is published within the protection period, then the protection may be applicable for lifetime of author (whose name is published) and fifty years computed from the year of death of the author.
e. In case of work relating to applied art and photographic work, the protection is granted for a period of twenty-five years from the year of preparation of such work.
f. In case where work is published posthumously, then the work may be protected for a period until fifty years from the year of publication of that work.

Legislation: The Copyright Act, 2059 (2002) at https://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/np/np001en.pdf